Hypathetical question, maybe a silly one at that

I lay in bed sometime thinking of the most obscure stuff when I cant sleep and last night was no exception.
This is what it was
" Can the human body sustain life if all meals (every single one of em) was substituted with suppliments. We all know everything we stick in our gobs are broken down into various elements such as water, good fats, bad fats, complex carbs, protein, aminos, vits etc etc. But if we could take a measurement of this and take the equivelant in supps, (albeit your kitchen worktop would be flooded with containers and sachets) could the human body survive long term??
 
I personally think no, but if the body is getting what it needs, then why not. Do we need "food" as such to survive?

Alot of teh things you've listed are food.
 
However yes. You could survive on powdered macro's and micro supplements

i guess so - as long as the body is getting the correct amount of amino acids, fats etc i don't see why not - you can't supplement water tho - you won't last long without that

How can anyone answer this and be absolutely sure.
 
I say no, using that 50 year old rat study someone did where they found rats survived longer on liver than b-vitamins as a fine example. If you ate all the vitamins and minerals in the right dosages that we know of you would be deficient in everything else the scientists haven't found that helps run the body.

 
I think satity (sp?) would be more of an issue than anything else.

so not a clean cut conclusion then!!! Interesting.
 

Erm, No.
 
What about the lack of dietary fibre for starters?
The most obvious effect of dietary fibre is on stool bulk.
 
Not forgetting the following:
 
Constipation
Haemorrhoids
Irritable bowel syndrome
Diverticular Disease
Bowel cancer
Diabetes
Raised Blood Cholesterol
 
There is a reason why you eat food, your digestive tract and body needs it. They are called supplements for a reason.

I thought about this before too! But only for about 5 seconds!
You'd be far healthier imo getting your requirements from food. ie vit c from an orange or a tablet. If your entire nutritional requirement were from manufactured supps I reckon you'd feel rotten in no time. Certainly wouldn't like to try!

bish8303


How can anyone answer this and be absolutely sure.

Question was survive. Not how they'd feel or whether they'd be in ill health. You could construct a diet made up out of powdered macro and micro's. I wouldn't want to and no doubt you'd be missing some stuff out, but you'd get by. Being omnivoures we are quite good at getting buy on very varied diets.

I believe you could

I believe you could, just look at infant formula, is that not a supplement? 
 
Also, supplement is a very broad word in terms of its constituents. Powdered oats are considered a supplement, likewise pure vitamin C, however the complexity of each is very different.  

Jack Hughman

Erm, No.

What about the lack of dietary fibre for starters?

 
There are many, many fibre supplements out there.
 
The essence of the question is there anything in food that is essential to life that you can't get in supplement form?
 
Essential amino acids - catered for
Essential fatty acids - catered for
Fibre - catered for (though is not actually essential for life)
Minerals - catered for
Essential vitamins - catered for
 
Other than the above you need air & water (unless I'm being dim and forgetting something obvious!). It is quite technically feasible to take the relevant extracts for all the above and make it into a single supplement - in fact, I might just do that and call it Life™
 
The question should be is it worth bothering? No, not really - unless you're an astronaut or something and convenience/nutrient density is key!

Granted, it is hypothetical but I doubt it could be done in reality.
 
If it was achievable, then George Orwell's vision of 1984 and a meal in a pill would be a reality.
 
Has anyone substituted meals completely with supplements as a way of life? Be interesting to know the answer.

.

We're all going to be awake tonight, wondering about this! Cheers welshbloke!